The title and subject of the
message this morning is this, The Bible in One Line. The Bible in One Line. I'm reading from John chapter
14, verse 6, in which the Lord Jesus Christ says, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. The Bible in one line, in nine
one-syllable words, the Lord Jesus Christ sums up the whole
Bible. He sums up the infinite wisdom,
mind, and will of God Almighty in one line. He sums up what
every person, place, and thing in the Bible means. what every
story illustrates. He says, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. Later, Paul the Apostle, built
on these words, he said in three words, Christ is all. All the will of God, all the
mind of God, all the purpose of God, all the salvation of
God, all a person needs to know, to believe, to know God, to know
the unknown, to see the unseen, to live forever or have eternal
life. I hope you are interested. I
hope the Spirit of God will make you so, will give you a desire
to know, to hear and receive what the Lord Jesus Christ says
here. The Bible in one line. I am the
way, the truth and the life. This is the gospel. This is the
word of truth. Now let's consider it. Consider
three things with me. the fact of this or the truth
of it. Secondly, the wonder of it, the
mercy, the love, the grace of God in this. And thirdly, the
power of it. Christ says, I am the way. No
man cometh unto the Father, but by me. Now, he is speaking of
God, God Almighty, the creator, calling him his father. Later,
he says to his disciples, I go to my father and your father. God is not the father of all
mankind. He is the creator of all. Our
Lord said that plainly to some Pharisees one time. He said,
you're of your father, the devil. He said, if God were your father,
you would love me. No, God is not the father of
all mankind, but he is the father of his people, his chosen people,
his elect, those who are born God those who are adopted of
God those who are in Christ the firstborn among many brethren
So he is speaking of God his father and God the father He
said Christ said in John 6 45 that all his children will be
taught of God and They're taught the truth of this the fact of
this that no man cometh unto the father but by Jesus Christ
He said, I am the way. The only way to know God, the
only way to know the unseen God is through Jesus Christ. God
is spirit. No man hath seen God, no man
knoweth the Father, but the Son. This is what Christ said. No
man knoweth the Son, but the Father, neither knoweth any man
the Father, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal
Him, will declare Him. No man hath seen God at any time,
yet The only begotten bodily image, person, son of God came
to reveal God in the flesh, God manifest in the flesh. The only
way to know God, the mind, the will, the purpose, the ways,
the character, the salvation of God is through Jesus Christ. We can know something of God's
eternal power and Godhead through the creation. The heavens declare
that glory of his. The firmament showeth his handiwork. And yet the person of God, the
character of God, the ways of God, the will of God, the mind
of God is only known and seen and understood through Jesus
Christ, God that manifests in the flesh. The only way to approach
God, to worship God, to come to God is through Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, God revealed
to his chosen people, Israel, three ways you must come to God.
Through a sacrifice, a blood sacrifice, a lamb, through a
high priest, a high priest, one mediator, one spokesman, one
man between God and man, and through a tabernacle that contained
a mercy seat and an ark. Well, these three things represent
the Lord Jesus Christ. These three are one person. He
is the way to approach God. He is the Lamb of God. He is
the only high priest. He is the mercy seat of God.
He is the ark of God. The only way to approach God.
The only way to worship God. The only way to be accepted by
God. The only way God will allow us
into his presence. To be with him. To be in his
heaven someday. In the garden, man lost three
things. He lost three things in the garden
when he rebelled against God, when he became a sinner through
his own rebellious will. Man lost the knowledge of God. Man lost the way to God. And man lost communion with God. He lost these things. He was
ignorant of who God is. He lost the truth of God. rejected
him or sent him out of the garden. He could no longer commune with
God and he lost his understanding of God, the knowledge of God,
communion with God. He became dead to God and the
only way he could come back to God is through a blood sacrifice
which represented the Lord Jesus Christ. God is holy. We are not. God is light. We dwell in darkness.
Christ came to make his people holy and righteous by imputing
that righteousness to them. God, through Christ, came to
give light to those that sit in darkness. Not to show the
light, but give light. To be the light. Righteousness
imputed and sin punished. Christ did all of that. Christ
is the only way a human being can get to God. He must be our
righteousness and he must be our lamb, our sin bearer. Then
Christ said, I am the truth, the truth, definite article.
And he said, I am the way that excludes all other ways. I am
the way. There is no other Messiah. And he says here, I am the truth.
There are no other Messiahs. He is the Messiah, the Christ,
the anointed one, the only true Messiah. He said, I am the truth. Who is God? Jesus Christ is God. The truth of God's person, his
character, his mind, his will, the truth of salvation. The truth
of salvation. It is all in Christ. It is nothing
of man. Christ did it all. Christ came
to do the Father's will. He came to fulfill the law for
his people. Man has sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Christ, as a man, a substitute,
a covenant head for his people, came to fulfill that law, not
show us how to keep it. We can't keep it. Christ did. He kept it for his people as
their covenant head, as their law, their law fulfiller. And
he imputed, God imputed or charged that righteousness which Jesus
Christ accomplished through his life, he charged it to his people. And they have kept the law in
Christ. In Christ. And then Christ came
to be their sin bearer, their punishment. to bear the wrath
of God, like Noah's ark bore the wrath of God. The rain that
fell upon and flooded the whole world, that rain fell upon the
ark and those in the ark were spared the wrath of God. But
Christ hanging on Calvary's tree bore the wrath and judgment and
punishment of God against the sins of his people. Not all men
and women. If Christ died for all men and
women, all human beings, then all would be saved because the
blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, is payment for sin. Whoever
Christ died for, their sins are paid for. He is the salvation
of God's people. He is the sin bearer of God's
people. This is the truth. There is no
truth in any other religion but Jesus Christ. True Christianity
is Christ only. There is no other Messiah, there
is no other wisdom, true wisdom, all else is foolishness, 1 Corinthians
1 says. There is no knowledge of God,
no true knowledge of the unseen God, except through Jesus Christ. And he said, I am the life, the
life, the life of God, eternal life. Scripture says, he that
believeth on the Son hath life. He that hath the Son hath life. Anyone and everyone who knows
not Jesus Christ, who has no faith in Him, no love for Him,
no need for Him, no understanding of Him, no relationship with
Him, they are dead in trespasses and sin. They may have religion. They may have some material or
human or earthly understanding of this or that and the other,
but they don't know God. They do not have spiritual life,
spiritual understanding. They're dead. They do not have
life. They're in darkness and they're
under the wrath of God. This is what Jesus Christ said.
And if anyone tries to come to God any other way, they will
be rejected by God and cast into outer darkness. That's the truth
of it. That's the fact of it. Here's
the wonder of it. Here's the amazement of it. Here's
the mercy and the grace and the love of it. That God would come
to this earth to begin with. That God would love any of these
rebellious creatures. All have sinned. All by nature
hate God. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. None righteous. Romans 3 clearly
describes mankind by nature. None good. Paul had rebelled
against God. Man would not think of God unless
God thought on him. That God would come and do what
he did for such worthless creatures, that Jesus Christ would come
and take their blame and take their sin and give unto them
his reward, his righteousness, is unthinkable. That's why it's
called the unspeakable gift. The wonder of it, the amazement
of it. that God would become a man to
do this for such worthless creatures as we are. Oh, do you wonder? Are you amazed by it? Do you
glory in this? This is what Paul said. God forbid
I should glory, save in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ. And
then there's the power of it. The power of it. Paul said in
Ephesians 1, those who believe, believe according to the working
of his mighty power. Salvation is a miracle. It's
a new birth. It's the gift of spiritual life,
to raise someone from the dead, to give new life. It's to open
blind eyes and deaf ears, to give understanding of what they
did not know, to believe what they can't see, to hear what
others cannot and will not hear, to see the unseeable, to know
the unknowable, to open blind eyes. Like that blind man given
sight, who was amazed, who wondered, who worshipped God, he said,
This much I know, I once was blind and now I see. The miracle of it, the power
of it, the glory of it is that God in mercy and grace through
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ has translated some from
the power of sin and darkness, delivered them from captivity,
delivered them from sin, Satan, and death into the kingdom of
his dear son. from sons of Adam to sons of
God, all one way by Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth, and
the life. What about you? Do you know these
things? The fact of them? Oh, do you
see and marvel at the glory of it? And oh, have you experienced
the life-giving power of it? If not, call, ask, seek, knock
that he might show you and put you in the way. Jesus Christ,
the way, the truth, And they lie. No man cometh unto the Father
but by him. Until next Sunday, God bless
his word. Amen.