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 of 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 has 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 manifest 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's 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, 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 said. 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. All have 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 creature 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 one, those who believe, believe according to the working
of his mighty power. Salvation's 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 the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by him. And next Sunday, God bless his
word. Amen.