I want you to see in this message
this morning a most important truth, and it is just this, that
our Lord Jesus, by his substitutionary sacrifice, is the way to God. If you would come to God, if
you would someday enter into the portals of eternal paradise,
If you would enter into heaven itself, please know this, the
way of entrance is the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. The
way is open for sinners like me and like you. There is no
other access to God except through Jesus Christ and Him crucified,
buried, and risen again. You ask me, what way is he to
God? Well, I think we could say this,
he's the old way and he's the new way. He was the old way in
the Old Testament. How was it that the people in
the Old Testament would come to God? It was by the same Son
of God. They came to him through the
sacrifices that portrayed him. through the offerings that pictured
Him. They came to God by means of
that blood shed. Innocent animals, their lives
were sacrificed in order to save the guilty. That's how we come
to God. That's how the Old Testament
saints came to God. And it's also a new way. Because
He who is pictured and portrayed in the Old Testament through
the sacrifices and the offerings, He has Himself come. And in person,
in person, He bore our sins on the tree. And He bore them away. He paid the debt of all of His
people. And every soul that comes to
know their sinfulness, every soul that comes to know their
need of the Lord Jesus Christ, I assure you, if the way of grace,
the way of Christ has been made known to you, you may freely
come to Him even right now. There is no price you must pay. There is no deal you must make
with God. There is no vow that you must
come to God and promise that you'll do this, that, or something
else. Just come empty-handed. Just
come as you are. Lord, I need the Savior. Lord,
I need righteousness. Lord, I need forgiveness. And
the preacher says, and the Word of God says, that Jesus Christ
crucified, buried, risen again, and ascended. He's the only way
to God. Oh God, I come to you through
Christ. And you come to God by way of
our Lord Jesus Christ. I assure you, you will not be
turned away. He's the old way and He's the
new way. Hebrews 10.20 says He's the new
and living way. For He has been sacrificed by
God for us. He is the living way. He was
dead. No question about it. When the
soldiers came around to check and make sure that the three
men being crucified had died, They came to a thief, and he
hadn't died, so they broke his legs. Came to the other thief,
he hadn't died, broke his legs. He couldn't hold himself up,
and so he suffocated. But when they came to our Lord
Jesus, he had already died. He died by his own will. He said,
no man takes my life from me. I have the power to lay my life
down. I have the power to take it again.
This commandment have I received from my father, but he's the
living way. He was dead. That's what he said
to John in Revelation chapter one. I was dead, but I'm living. I'm alive forevermore, forevermore. And we see him as the true way.
Every other way, every other supposed way to God is a false
way. The scripture says, there is
a way that seemeth right to man, but the end thereof, the ways
of death. So how can I come to God? Only one way, the living way. All other ways are dead ways
and they'll lead to eternal death. I listened for a little bit this
week to a preacher on the radio. And he talked about how the only
way to be saved was to be baptized, be put under water and wash your
sins away. That's a dead way. If you think that is the way
to be reconciled to God, if you think that's the way to be made
righteous, if you think that's the way to be saved, you're on
the broad way that leads to destruction. For you see, salvation is not
by works, and baptism is a work. Salvation is by grace, through
a glorious substitute, our Lord Jesus Christ. He's the true way.
Every other way is false. Well, preacher, there are a lot
of other preachers who disagree with you. I know. Well, who's
to say that you're right and they're wrong? Maybe they're
right and you're wrong. I'll tell you who is right. God's
Word is right. This is the only foundation we
have. This is the only source of truth.
We began by reading three verses out of John chapter 17. Later
in our Lord's Prayer, He said, Thy Word is truth. And what does the Bible say?
For by grace are you saved through faith, and even that's not of
yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man
should boast. There is the true way, and that's
Christ. But we also know He's the narrow
way. There's no room for you and your
baggage. Your baggage of works, your baggage
of self-righteousness, There's just no room for that. You say,
well, I've done a lot of good things for people. I try to help
people when they're in need. I give money to feed the poor
and I do this and I do that. Those are good things to do,
but they carry no merit before a holy God. The only thing that
matters before God is his darling son and his sacrifice upon the
cross of Calvary. That's all that matters to God.
And you'll come to Him the right way, the only way, the only way,
Christ, who is the true way, or you won't come to God at all. And I'll say He's the open way. In fact, the only thing that
prevents you from coming to God is that you don't come to God
through Christ. It's your own stubbornness. It's
your own unwillingness. Our Lord pointed to those Pharisees
of His day and He said, you will not come to Me that you might
have life. Do you want life? Don't try some
other way. There is one living way, there
is one way to life eternal, and that is the one who has all life
in himself, and that is Christ our Lord. And He is the appointed way. When our Lord talked to His disciples
about going away, and He was talking about going away to die
on the cross, He'd be buried and then he'd go back to glory.
Thomas said, Lord, we don't know where you're going. We don't know the way. Are you asking that? What is
the way? What is the way to God? Christ said, I'm the way. I don't
know how words could be any clearer. That's three one-syllable words. I am forward. I am the way. It's very simple. Not I am a
way, I'm not one of many ways, I am the way. And if you, whoever
you are, if you come to God by way of the way of Jesus Christ
and Him crucified, you have His Word, the Word of that One whose
name is true and faithful, you'll come to God. by Him. There's no need for you to be
confused. There's no need for you to be
mixed up. You say, I don't understand the
deeper things of the Word of God. Do you understand this? You are a poor lost sinner and
the only Savior, the only way to salvation, to everlasting
peace and righteousness and hope is in Jesus Christ and His substitutionary
sacrifice. Do you understand that? Do you
understand baptism's not the way? The church membership's
not the way? Doing good deeds is not the way?
Obeying the Ten Commandments, which you can't do anyway, that's
not the way. Do you understand there's one
way? He's the only way. He's the narrow way. He's the
way to life. Christ Jesus and Him crucified. That's it. And I want you to
see that in this message this morning. Well, let me talk to you a little
bit about Jacob. He's in a pitiful condition here, as we began reading. He has tricked his brother Esau
into getting the blessing. He'd be the high priest of the
family. He'd lead the family in worship. He would be the man who would
gather the rest of the family together and said, let's worship
God. He'd be the man who offered the sacrifice and all the other
members of the family would gather around. Jacob would lead them
in worship. Well, Esau was the oldest. He was the firstborn. But back
in old eternity, God decreed The elder shall serve the younger.
And God said, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. Now Jacob
was going to get the blessing, but Jacob, he cheated. He went behind his
father's back, tricked him, and he got the blessing. Never mind
how he got it, but he got it. And Esau found out, because Esau
actually, he gave the blessing away to satisfy his hunger for
food. Trade you, Jacob said. I'll take
the blessing, and you can have the soup. And Esau, He didn't
see any real use in the blessing, being the leader of family worship. And he sold it. And then he realized
what he had done. He first of all got mad at himself,
then he got mad at his daddy, and got really mad at Jacob.
In fact, he was on the warpath. He's ready to kill Jacob. And
so, Jacob's mom sent him away. He said, you need to leave town.
Your brother's going to kill you. And he did. And he set out. He's traveled 40 miles in one
day. And he's out there in the desert
all by himself. He's all alone. He is friendless. Got no family with him. He's
out there in the desert, takes a rock, and that's going to be
his pillow. And the cold desert floor at
night, that's his bed. And the dark sky above, the canopy
above, that's the only cover he's got. All alone. Sad, disheartened. He knew he saws on his trail. And he goes to sleep. And God spoke to him. Now, God
didn't speak through dreams today. He doesn't speak through visions
today. He speaks through his word. But back in the Old Testament,
God spoke to men. through visions and dreams. And this is how God spoke to
Jacob. He dreamed. Let me tell you something,
when he laid down, he felt awful. He's weary, traveled
40 miles that day. He's all alone, he has no friends,
nobody to support him, got no food. He goes to sleep. And I tell
you, things are different when he wakes up. Because he had a
revelation of the very glory of God. In his dream, he saw a ladder. And the ladder had its foundation
upon the earth and reached all the way to heaven. Boy, that's
a long ladder. And he saw angels of God going
up and down the ladder. Well, the issue is, what was
this ladder picture? Who does it portray? Well, it
portrays our Lord Jesus Christ. You all know what a ladder is
used for. To span a distance. You got to get up on the roof
of your house. You put the bottom of the ladder
on the ground, make sure it's good and secure, and you put
it up against the house, maybe up against above the gutters,
and you go up. It spans the distance. That's
who Christ is. He spans the distance between
earth and heaven and heaven and earth. Actually, that latter
pictures Christ Himself, who is both heavenly, for He's the
Son of God, and earthy, because He's the man, Christ Jesus. He is the only one who can connect
people on earth to God who's in heaven. He's the only one. Nothing else can make that connection. He's the one who spans the distance. You can't. I can't. Nobody else can. But our Lord
Jesus, He's the ladder. He's the way to God. See, that's
what I start off by telling you. I want to show you He's the way
to God. And there is no other way. Here's
Jacob. He's in a dry and parched land,
laying on the desert floor. But in this dream, he sees this
ladder. This ladder connects to God.
Would you like a connection with God? Would you like to connect with
God? There is a way, but there's only
one way. Christ in Him crucified. This ladder connects to God who
is the highest. He's the highest, none higher
than God. When our Lord Jesus was born,
the angels sang, glory to God in the, what? Highest. He's the highest. And what are
we but the lowest? The lowly people who have nothing
to recommend us to God. I need a connection. I need somebody
to take me from my lowliness into the highest that is the
presence of God. Our Lord Jesus, who is higher
than all, you know, He was made lower than the angels. There's
the ladder again. He was the highest. And he was
made the lowest. I'll tell you how low he was
made in Psalm 22. He said, I am a worm and no man. That's low. That's low. From being the king over the
angels and over all creation, to being like a worm, to be mashed,
to be crucified, to be killed, to be murdered by men. but offered as a sacrifice to
God, what a stoop. What a stoop. He's the ladder. We go up to
God by him, and God comes down to us by him. Will God do business
with you? Huh? Do you think the holy God Isaiah heard the seraphim singing,
holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, he's holy. Do you think
God who is holy, who is the highest, will do business with you, the
lowest of sinners? Well, I'll tell you what, he
does, but only through Christ. Now you try to come up some other
way, you'll find that you've got no ladder, you don't even
have one rung on your ladder. We come to God by Christ Jesus. And the blessings of God come
down this ladder, come down from heaven by Christ. Ephesians 1,
we're blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. That's how the blessings come
down. Sometimes maybe I'll sneeze or
something and I'll be in a place of business and they'll say,
well, God bless you. He can only bless me one way. By the ladder. by the Son of
God. And Jehovah stood above this
ladder, showing his approval, this is the way. That's what
God's saying, this is the way. Jacob, you see these angels coming
up and going down, coming up and going down? Well, Jacob,
this is the only way you can come up to me. It's the only
way we can pray. You think God's going to hear
you because of who you are? You know, you just do something
really good and say, well, I know God will hear me now. He hears
prayer and receives prayer through Jesus Christ our Lord. That's
the only way He receives. Our prayers and our praise. The
blessings come down by means of the latter and our prayers
and praise go up by means of the latter. Christ himself is the way. And I'll tell you this, it's
a singular ladder. It's the only one there is. I
got one ladder at my house. One long one. I got a little
short one down in the basement. It's got two steps. I got one
of them ladders that stretch way out. But I've only got one. Let me tell you something. There's
one ladder to God, but it's just one. Well, I think you ought
to make room, Jim, for all religions. I heard a priest watching a Roman
Catholic program, and this priest said, you know, there's some
good in all religions. We're all going different ways,
but we'll all wind up in heaven. All who are sincere, that's what
he said, will wind up in heaven. Really? So you got many ladders. The Bible talks about one ladder.
The Bible talks about one way. The Bible talks about one door.
The Bible talks about one savior. There are not many ways and not
many ladders. It's a singular ladder. Listen
to the scripture. There's one God and one mediator. Who is that? The mediator between
God and man, that's the man Christ Jesus. He's the one who spans the distance. I'll tell you, it is a long ladder. The top's in heaven, the bottom's
on earth. That sets forth at the same time
the humanity of our Savior. He was on earth, but even when
he is on earth, he's still in heaven. That's his deity. And it's a lasting ladder. I
used to have to go up on top of my mother-in-law's house. Nancy's dad had passed away,
and it was a two-story colonial house, and the gutters were way
up there. And the ladder she had, the longest
ladder we had, went about this much above the roof, and the
last rung was way down here. Once I got up there, I wanted
to do anything and everything because I didn't want to get
back up on that ladder. I didn't want to come down that
ladder. But I used the ladder to get up there. It was a wooden ladder. Had them little round rungs.
I bet some of y'all had too. And then two befores. in those
little round rungs. It had been there a long time.
I put that ladder up, and I went to put my foot on the first rung,
and it snapped. Needless to say, I didn't try
the second one. It wasn't a lasting ladder. But I'll tell you what, Christ,
who is the ladder, he lasts. because of who he is. He endures
the test of time. And though millions upon millions
have come to God by means of this ladder, it's as strong as
it ever was. He is Christ. Say, I'm a mighty
big sinner preacher. He'll hold up big sinners. And I'll tell you what, if God
ever shows you your sinfulness, you'll think you're the biggest
sinner that there is. It's a lasting ladder. It won't
rot. It won't age. It won't become
needless or useless. It'll never become obsolete. And these angels were ascending
and descending. Hebrews chapter 1 says the angels
are ministering spirits. And then, and I've got to go
quickly. The Lord stood above it, verse
13. He told Jacob who he was. Verse 14, He made promises to
Jacob concerning His seed. And in the last statement of
verse 14, He says, In thee and in thy seed shall all the families
of the earth be blessed, shall many, many people be blessed.
Thy seed is the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord said this to Jacob,
look at verse 15, I am with thee. and will keep thee in all places
whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land.
For I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have
spoken to thee of." And then Jacob woke up. He woke
up. He said, Well, surely the Lord
is in this place. He said, I didn't even know that.
I know the Lord was here. I know His mother sent Him out,
and weariness caused Him to stop at this particular location.
But really, the Scripture says up here in verse 11, He lied
it upon a certain place. This is the place God had ordained
when He is going to confront Jacob. This is going to be the
place of Jacob's conversion. Verse 17, he was afraid. He said, how dreadful is this
place. He said, this is none other than
the house of God. Wherever the Lord is, that's
the house of God. And he said, this, this right
here, this is the gate of heaven. And I'll tell you, when you are
worshiping the Lord, be it here or be it at home or wherever
you are, and you're thinking of the Lord, you're meditating
upon the Lord Jesus Christ and His grace and His salvation, that's the gate of heaven. You
see, the word really presents the idea here of the vestibule. the place before you enter in.
And it's like here we are this morning. This is as close to
the permanent house of God as we can get. This is the gate
of heaven right here. And wherever the saints of God
are gathering this morning, wherever people are worshiping God through
the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, they're at the
very gate. That's as close as you can be to heaven without
being there. And I truly believe that the closest you can get
to the very house of God, to the permanent dwelling place
of our God, is at the gate. And the gate
is where our Lord is exalted and worshiped. So Jacob has a revelation of
the Lord. He rose up early in the morning,
verse 18, and this is his conversion right here in all of this. He
took the stone that he had put for pillows, and the pillow becomes
a pillar. It becomes a place of memorial. to Jacob. And verse 19, he called
the name of that place Bethel, the place of God. Whereas at
first it was called Luz, which means separation. He was separated
from God, but he's not separated from God anymore. And you may
have come in here this morning, or you may be watching this this
morning, living, as it were, in love. And the Lord opens your heart,
and opens your eyes, and you see something of the glory of
the only Savior. And then you realize He's the
latter. He's the way. Oh God, I come
to you by means of the living way, Christ the Savior. And if the Lord shows you the
way, He'll draw you to the way. And you'll enter into the way.
And from that way, you'll never truly wander. And you will find
this, That way, the new and living way, the narrow way, He will
someday take you all the way into the presence of God. Christ
is the ladder. Well, let's sing the closing
song. Please sing. Let's turn to 468. I will sing
the