This evening, with the Lord's
help, I wish to continue with the series in Questions Asked
in Scripture, with the question that you will find asked in John
chapter 14 and verse 5, the latter part, how can we know the way? This is a question that was asked
following our Lord's introduction in the first part of this chapter,
in telling the disciples that in his father's house were many
mansions. And he said, 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, thee may be also. And whither I go ye know, and
the way ye know. And then Thomas saith unto him,
Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the
way? Set before us is heaven, the
Father's house, those mansions above, And this question, how
can we know the way in these gospel days? What a question. Those who may never have been
brought up under the sound of the truth, those who may not
know the first thing of the things of grace, of the way of salvation,
and they have set before them the thought of heaven, eternity,
a way of escape from the wrath to come, but how can, how can
we know the way? And we could turn this question
around for those of us who've made profession of faith, how
do we know the way? How have we been brought to know
the way? Are we in the way? Are we going
in the right way? We read, there is a way that
seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways
of death. And there are many, many that
are going in a way that they think that they are going to
heaven. They think that all is well with
them. But that way is not the way. It is not the right way. And so this is a vital question
and such an important question for us to be able to answer. How can we know the way? A way that will bring us at last
to those mansions above. So I want to answer this question
that first, well we have two main points and the first will
be the way. If the question is how can we
know the way, what is the way firstly? And then secondly, the
answer to this question, how The way is known. But firstly, the way. Our Lord answers Thomas in verse
six, and he says unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. So the way, firstly, is in the
person, of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Whatever else that
we may understand, we would understand it in this point, and hold fast
to this point, that there is none other name given among men
whereby we must be saved but through the Lord Jesus Christ. He testifies of that here, He
testifies of it when He says that none come unto the Father
but by Me, when He says if ye believe not that I am He, ye
shall perish in your sins, and that there is none other name
given among men whereby we must be saved. This is the only name,
the name that the Father hath given Him, which is the name
above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow. So immediately this would then
rule out every way, every religion, every teaching apart from the
Lord Jesus Christ alone. That in itself should be a great,
great pointer to us in the very words of our Lord, I am I am
the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. When we look at the words that
precede those words that our Lord said, He said, 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. Now let us put this in an illustration. Suppose that I was to say to
someone here in Kent, in Cranbrook, that I was going to prepare a
place in London for them. and I'd go and prepare that place
for them. But when it was ready, I wasn't
going to send a map to them and say, this is how you can get
to the place that I've prepared for you. I wasn't going to send
directions to them, take a train and go this station and that
station to get there and you come alone following these directions. If I were to say, when I have
prepared this place, I'll come back down into Kent to Cranbrook
here and you will go with me. I will receive you. I will take you and bring you
to that place that I have prepared. All you need to do is to keep
close by me, follow me. You don't need a map. You don't
need directions. You don't need to know anything
about the way, except me. I am the way. And that's exactly what our Lord
is saying here. He is saying, I am the way. I'll
prepare the place. I'll come again. I'll receive
you unto myself. You won't go on your own. You
go with me. I will take you there. I am the way." And that is how
he sets it before Philip and before the disciples, before
Thomas, before all of those that are asking the questions in this
portion here. So firstly it is His person,
the person of our Lord, truly God and truly man, God manifest
in the flesh, Emmanuel, God with us, the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus
of Nazareth, God's true and only begotten Son. But also, not only it is His
person, but His work on earth. What He is preparing them for
here, and His going away, is preparing them for when He is
crucified at Calvary. In one sense, the preparation
is not only in heaven, but is also on earth. Because without
the cross, without the sufferings of our Lord, without His death,
without the blood-shedding, there would be no mansion. There would
be no atonement for sin. There would be no taking away
the wrath of God. There would be no possibility
of any saved at all. It is only through what our Lord
has done upon the Calvary's tree that makes a way for sinners
to escape the wrath to come. Not only it was the work at Calvary,
but it is His perfect obedience and whole life of obedience to
His Father, sinless and perfect, that is to be then put on the
account of His people, those that believe in Him should be
given His righteousness and to appear in the presence of God
faultless before the throne. So the way is through His person,
And it is through His work, His sin-atoning sacrifice at Calvary,
and His sinless, perfect life. It is also through His gift. The Lord says, I give unto them
eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand. Our Lord's answer, I am the way,
the truth, and the life, points to this. It points to the truth
of the need of the sacrifice, all the types and shadows of
the Old Testament pointed to the truth that without the shedding
of blood there is no remission, and the Lamb of God must be slain,
must put away sin, and that He is the life. I am come, He says,
that they might have life, that they might have it more abundantly.
I give unto them eternal life. They shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of mine hand. So the way is through
Christ's work and through His gift of eternal life to His people
while they are on earth in their lifetime, a spiritual life, a
life in their souls. It is also the way through His
intercession in heaven. When our Lord rose again from
the dead and then ascended up into heaven, He is making intercession
for His people to His Father. He is our advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous. We read in John 17 that He prays
to His Father that they also whom thou hast given me be with
me where I am, that they may behold my glory. And he appears
in the presence of God for us, for his people. He has gone before,
as he says, I go to prepare a place for you. But in that place he
is making that intercession for his people. So the way is in
every aspect through our Lord Jesus Christ. And when we look
at the second point, how the way is known, we'll see even
more aspects, really everything is inseparable to our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ. Our text is found in a gospel,
a gospel according to John. And if we look at the epistles
that John has written, then we find how important a point he
makes, the believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and what we believe
on Him. In his second epistle, he says
in verse 9, Whoso transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine
of Christ hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any
unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into
your house, neither bid him Godspeed. For he that biddeth him Godspeed
is partaker of his evil deeds." And what he means is, is not
just believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, It is believing what
the Word of God sets forth concerning Him. There are some that say
He is not really and truly God, but just a created being. That is not the doctrine of the
Bible, that is not the doctrine of Christ. Some will say that
He does not have a soul, that the position of the soul is taken
by His divinity. That is not the doctrine of the
Scripture. Thou shalt see the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. He takes not on him the nature
of angels, which is only spirit, or a beast, which is only flesh,
but of the seed of Abraham, and therefore body and soul. Our bodies and our souls are
both redeemed. We are fallen, we are lost, we
are sinners, we are under condemnation, We are under the sentence of
death, we must die, but it is only through the Lord Jesus Christ
as truly God and truly man that we can be redeemed, set free
from condemnation and guilt. And so what we believe about
the Lord Jesus Christ is very important. What we believe about
Him being the only way is very important. As soon as we add,
as the Roman Catholic Church does, tradition to him, then
we are in error. As soon as we add, as some solemnly
even of our people may add, their own thoughts or own words that
they have, feeling come from heaven but are not found in the
Word of God or contrary to the Word of God, we're adding feelings,
we're adding mysticism to the Word of God. It is only as our
Lord is set forth in the Scriptures, and the way is only the way that
is set forth in the Word of God. So let us then look at how the
way is known. How the way is known. We would say, as we have just
mentioned, that it must be as revealed in the Word of God. So whereas we had in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ brought into a very, shall we say, contracted
compass, leaving no room for move or no room for bringing
any other personal being into the way, So when we say the Word
of God, from Genesis to Revelation, the Bible, the Holy Bible, the
inspired Word of God, we bring again into a compass, an area, where we say,
here is the truth, here is the way, is known only by what is
found in these pages. So if someone says to you, well,
you must go reading this book, or that book, or you need this
added to the Bible, or you need some other way, you may say,
no, we are told here that this is the book. We are not to add
nor subtract from what is here. God has not spoken in any other
ways in any other place to mankind than through the words of this
book. And there may be many things
that are not said, and we think, oh, I wish we could know about
that. But the Lord has chosen out those things we do need.
And this is highlighted in the 20th chapter of this gospel according
to John. where at the end of that chapter
the Apostle says, and many other signs truly did Jesus in the
presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book,
but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life
through his name. Again, it's very clearly put. Those things that are needed
for salvation are here. Those things that are not, are
not here. And if we want to waste our time
on things that will not profit our soul and lead us straight
to another way, then go outside the Word of God. But if we want
to know the way, the only way, then we'll confine ourselves
to the Word of God and those books that will maybe be of use
in expounding and opening up and explaining it, as long as
they do not add to the Word of God. The second thing, whereby
the way is known, and this is absolutely vital, there's no
other way of knowing it, we can know it in the head but not really
know it in the heart, and that is through the new birth, a spiritual
Birth. Our Lord says in John 6, John
chapter 3, he must be born again. This arises because we are dead
in trespasses and sins. We do not have a capability of
knowing spiritual things. The natural man receiveth not
the things of God, neither can he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned. We said before that one of the
things that the Lord Jesus Christ did was to give eternal life,
and that life that is in His Son is given as a free and a
sovereign gift at the new birth. And we must be absolutely certain
of that, that the beginning must be a beginning that God has been
the author of, that He which hath begun a good work in you
will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. The beginning
must be right. It must be a new creation, the
same as God created the earth, so he must create in us a new
heart, a new spirit, and give us spiritual life. I pass by
thee when thou wast in thy blood, and when thou wast in thy blood,
I bid thee live. So that is the next point. The
third is this, and very closely related to the Word of God, and
that is the preaching of the Word. We read in the Epistle
to the Corinthians that it hath pleased God through the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. So if we would want
to know the way, Then we go where the Word is preached, where the
Lord Jesus Christ is preached. Where there are those that preach
like the Apostle, I determine to know nothing among men, save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It is through the preaching of
the Gospel that the Lord quickens souls and gives them eternal
life, that they are born again in the Spirit. It is through
preaching of the Word that the Word is explained, expounded,
and apply to the heart of men, not just to their minds as we
would in a Bible study, but to the heart. So how the way is known. The
way is known through the Word of God, through the new birth,
through the preaching of the Gospel, It is known through faith. And
that again is also joined to the preaching of the gospel.
In all of these points, they all center around our Lord Jesus
Christ and they are all linked together because we have in Romans
10, the word of faith that is in thy mouth and in thy heart,
that is the word of faith which we preach. that if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine
heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved. And he joins together then, the
hearing, hearing the gospel. How can they call on him in whom
they have not believed? He's just said, whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How shall they
believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? And again, it is him, believe
in him of whom they have not heard. How shall they hear without
a preacher? How shall they preach except
they be sent? Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. To the way is known through preaching
of the word and through faith, which is also the gift of God,
which is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the author and finisher
of our faith. We know the way by the grace
of God. Paul says when he writes to the
Ephesians, by grace you are saved through faith and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God. And so It is the grace of
the Lord Jesus Christ, the grace of God, that brings a new birth,
that reveals the way and shows the way. It is a way that is
just freely and sovereignly shown and imparted to His people through
the preaching of the Word. We must emphasize this, by grace
ye are saved. It is a gift, it is free, it
is sovereign, it is all through the Lord Jesus Christ. But also the way is known through
the characteristics of the way. In the Gospel, according to Matthew, and chapter 7, our Lord speaks
of the way, and not just that way, but an alternative way,
or really any other way. And in Matthew 7 and verse 13,
our Lord exhorts, enter ye in at the straight gate. For wide
is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction,
and many there be which go in thereat. Because straight is
the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and
few there be that find it. And immediately then he exhorts
them to beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's
clothing. In other words, teachers that
profess to preach a way, but it is a false way. They're not
really the true prophets or preachers of the Lord, they're false ones.
And the implication is that they make the way wider than it is. The way is known by its characteristic,
it is narrow. How is it narrow? The Lord Jesus
alone, the Word of God alone, Sovereignly, by grace alone,
through faith alone. These are the things that make
it to be that narrow way. And those that make it wider
will say, oh, there can be other ways of saving than our Lord,
and you don't need it to be the work of God, you can just choose,
it's your choice. And there'll be those that set
forth that why it is not the way, the characteristics, some
of those we look at further here, it doesn't need to have those
characteristics in it at all. But the way is the way, is described
in the Word of God, and it is what the world would call narrow
or confined, restricted, not in a loose, careless way that
is not confined by the Word of God itself. And so, the characteristics
of the Way, in our text immediately after it, we have the Truth,
I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The Way is characterized
by Truth, not error. And how is Truth measured? By
the Word of God. Truth is measured not how something
or reality is viewed by man, but as viewed by God's perspective. And how do we know God's perspective? How He has revealed it in the
Word of God. We always know that how we view
things is by our viewpoint, how we're viewing something. I doubt
many of you have seen photographs of a person holding up their
hand and it appears like they're holding up the moon or holding
up the sun. And because the angle of the
camera, just that person's hand is just put so that the moon
or the sun, which is millions of miles or thousands of miles
behind them, looks small and is just in right relationship
to where they are. We can have a case where we see
two cars or perhaps sometimes it might be two aeroplanes and
we think they're surely going to hit, they're going to collide
and from our point of view it looks like that's going to happen
but actually if we looked at it from another vantage point
they were probably miles apart, and they weren't going to hit
at all. And so we need it, especially
as viewed from God's viewpoint, not from our own. And so that
is where faith comes in, to trust the Word of God, trust what God
says, and distrust what we feel. Another characteristic of the
Way is grace, the grace that is given to the people of God. We know that we must, through
much tribulation, enter the kingdom. The Apostle Paul, his tribulation
was a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet
him. He prayed three times it might
be taken away, But the Lord said, my grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made perfect in
weakness. And that trial that he went through,
it was God's grace, God's help, God's favor that enabled him
to not be murmuring, complaining, to be kicking against the way,
but to be submissive to it and bow before Him. He says, when
I am weak, then I am strong. And the Lord gives that inward
grace and help and strength. He read, He giveth more grace,
and grace for grace. I give the grace of the spirit
of prayer and supplications, and then in answer to those prayers,
give further strength, inward strength, and strength to bear
the sorrows of the way, the tribulations of the way, and to endure unto
the end. And so it is a way that is marked
out by that inward strength and grace and help that is given
by God to the people in the way. It is a way that is a way that
is hedged up. God has said that he would chasten
and correct his children. And when they go in the way,
they turn to the right hand, turn to the left, that they will
hear a word behind them saying, this is the way, walk ye in it.
And it is the word of God that directs them, hedges them, points
out them what is the right way to walk, what is the wrong way
to walk. And when they do not heed that
word, then he chastens them and corrects them. We read of that
in Hebrews 12, the Lord chastens every son. whom he receiveth. There is no one found in that
way that will not have that characteristic, that the Lord chastens them if
they go astray and do not heed to his word. The blessed thing
if we do hearken to his word. But then also it is a way of
mercy, a way of which we will not find that The Lord deals
with us as our sins deserve. Our Lord spoke of the publican,
God be merciful to me a sinner. It is a way that will be so marked
out that the Lord shows mercy to us. We have not earned it. It is not by our good works and
ways, although the fruit and effect of God's grace and the
life he gives within is to live upright and godly lives. Yet
we are very mindful. that if the Lord should mark
iniquity, one thought wrong, one word wrong, we are sinners
in every thought, word and deed. The Word of God says very clearly
that there is no man that doeth good and sinneth not. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. All our righteousnesses, that's
all our good works, are as filthy rags. So it is mercy. That way, if you and I are walking
in Him, we'll be marked down by mercy. It is also a way that
is a holy way. The Lord is a holy God. He cannot
look upon sin without utter abhorrence. He hates sin. The Apostle Peter,
he says, of God, be ye holy for I am holy. This is what God set
before Israel in the wilderness and sets before his people. And
it is the Lord that sanctifies his people, that separates them
from the world, from those things that are profane and unholy and
unclean, delivers them from all their uncleannesses, and makes
them to desire those things that are pure, and lovely, and holy,
and those things which are above, in their thoughts, in their words,
in their conduct, in their associations with this world. Come ye out
from among them, touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive
you. Ye shall be my sons and my daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty. And that shall be a characteristic
of the way. that in heaven there shall not
be anything that is unclean, unholy, and impure, but those
that are led that way here below will be seeking, by the grace
of God, to live holy, godly, and upright lives. It will also
be a way of peace, the peace of God which passeth all understanding. When Paul writes to the Philippians,
he speaks of this. He says in chapter 4, be careful,
in verse 6, be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known
unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth
all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus. And in verse nine, and the God
of peace shall be with you. Those things which ye have both
learned and received and heard and seen in me do, and the God
of peace shall be with you. And of course, all of these things
are inseparable from the Lord Jesus Christ. In me, he says,
you shall have peace. In the world, you shall have
tribulation, but be of good cheer, I've overcome the world. And
so the way in every part of it, the characteristics of the way
will have those things that proceed from the Lord Jesus Christ. He
says, take my yoke upon you, learn of me. For I am meek and
lowly in heart, ye shall find rest unto your souls. There will
be that humility instead of pride. It's a humble way, a low way,
a way that exhibits that real realization of our sinnership
and unworthiness of anything from the Lord's hand. It will
also be a way that is cast up the old paths, Seek ye out the
old paths and walk therein. We have it in Jeremiah. We have
that long list in Hebrews 11 of those that walk by faith.
It's the same way that Abel went, Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, all those
saints of old. They went looking to Christ,
trusting in Him, faith in Him. As soon as we find people pointing
out new ways, different ways, ways that bridge to the world
as it were, innovative ways, ways that are not cast up, ways
that the ones that have gone before us, they knew nothing
of that way, ways that marry up the world with the church
or bring the world into the church. Those ways are not this way. It is the way that the saints
have gone before us, that same path, unchanged, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Ever the world will be an enemy
to the people of God. The Lord says, they are not of
the world, even as I am not of the world. I have given them
thy word, and the world hath hated them. And that may be the
religious world, as well as the profane world. When one wants
to stick to the Word of God, and one wants to only do that
in worship and in life that is prescribed in the Word of God
and not strictly forbidden, then they shall be hated of this world. But it is that which marks out
the way, the characteristics of the way. This is then a very
important question. How can we know the way? And we may ask ourselves this
evening, do we know the way? Have we recognized the way as
we have set it forth this evening? Do we know something of a new
birth, a new beginning? Do we know something of that
way through the Word of God, through it preached, and through
the Holy Spirit's work? Do we know something of the characteristics
of the way, of the grace and the mercy of God? Have we had those drops of peace? And we can add on to that, of
course, love, the love of God, shed abroad in the heart by the
Holy Ghost. We know that we have passed by
death, from death unto life, because we love the brethren.
And our Lord, having loved his own, loved them unto the end. Those he has loved with an everlasting
love, and therefore with lovingkindness hath he drawn them. And if we
join that with Psalm 107, Whoso is wise and will observe these
things, the Lord's dealings, right through life, even they
shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord. So we have the way,
and the way that it is known, and it is a way that Thomas here,
he asked this question, how can we know the way? And we need to ask that question
as well. Those that are strangers to the
way, those who have never known the way, how can we know the
way? And those of us who profess to be in the way, How do we know
it is the way? How do we know that we are in
the way, being made personal partakers of it and are not bystanders
on the race just commenting on what is happening and what others
are walking in, but we are actually walking in that way and that
we are walking with the Lord and that the Lord is precious
to us as the way and more and more We feel our need of Him
to bring us on our way, day by day, and at last to receive us
unto Himself. So may this question be a question
that we can answer, a question that we know something of the
characteristics of the Way and above all, the One who is the
Way, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. The Lord add His blessing. Amen.