Out of verse six, where our Lord
said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man, no man
cometh unto the Father but by me. Our Lord Jesus Christ had been
comforting the hearts of His disciples. He told them that
He was going away. He was going away. And where He's going, they couldn't
come. They couldn't come now. But they would be able to come
later. They couldn't go where He was
going. They could not go to the crossroads.
They could not go through the suffering He was going to go
through. And then our Lord tells them where He's going, and then
He tells them the way. Look what He says here in verse
4. He says, in the weather I go,
you know, and the way you know. Now, he told him where he was
going. Well, where am I going? He says, I go, in verse three,
verse two, in my father's house are many mansions. If it were
not so, I would have told you. And I'm going to prepare a place
for you, so you know where I'm going. And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I'll come again and receive you unto myself,
that where I am, there you may be also. So our Lord tells them
where they're going, where He's going, and He tells them that
they know the way. And He says, you're troubled
in heart. You're troubled in heart. You don't know where I'm
going. Because I said, you can't follow
me now. And I'm going to my Father's
house. That's where I'm going. I'm going to that place where
there's many, many mansions. Not cabins in the corner of glory
land. No mansions. Great dwelling places. Says, God's the earth and the
Lord's and the fullness thereof belongs to the Lord and all the
riches that Christ has is wealthy. How could he have anything less
than mansions for his people? How could he have anything less
than what was, you know, there ain't nothing on this earth compared
with what Christ has prepared for us. And he says, I have to
go there before you can follow me. Arrangements have to be made
before you can go. I must prepare a place for you
before you can go where I am. And when I do, and I prepare
this place for you, and I finish this place, I'll come again.
And I'll take you unto myself. I'll take you where I am. You
may be with me also. And he says in verse 4, he says,
And whither I go you know. You know. He said, I've told
you plainly, and I've told you where I'm going. I just got through
telling you. And he says, in the way you know.
The way. You shall come to where I've
gone. I go to prepare a place. I go to prepare a place. And
when I prepare that place, I'll come again. And you know the
way. And the where I'm going to is to the Father. He said,
I've told you I'm going to my Father. I'm going under the Father. And so you see, beloved, in the
way he's talking about here, the way is not the goal, but
the process by which he's going to go where he is, to the Father.
The way he's going to go to be with Him. It wasn't just the
goal, but the path to it, the process to get to the Father.
The way that he's going to go, the very process of it. Not just
where He's going to go, but the how to get there is what Christ
is revealing to them. There ain't no way you can get
to the Father unless I go to prepare a place for you. There's
no way you can come to where I am unless I prepare a place
for you. You can't come to the Father
except I prepare a place for you, unless I make the way for
you. And so the process is what He's
talking about. And look at what you and I've
been through, and we haven't gone to be with Christ yet. But
He did prepare us a place, and He did prepare us the way. And
then look what Thomas says there in verse 5. Thomas saith unto
him, Lord, we don't know where you're going,
and how can we know the way? We don't even have a clue where
you're going, so how in the world can we know the way? Well, our
Lord spoke plainly. Simply, yet he misunderstood. He misunderstood. He misunderstood the father. He misunderstood the house that
he was going to go prepare, the many mansions, the preparing
the place. And he misunderstood everything
that our Lord said. Now, let me tell you something.
Thomas, you see him mentioned three times in the Scriptures.
And every time he opened his mouth, he was as natural as anybody
you'll ever see. Every time he opened his mouth.
First time you know you find him is when our Lord Jesus Christ
told him that Lazarus was dead. He said, well, let's just go
die too. Let's just go die, let's just
go die too. Well, you know, if he's dead,
let's just go die with him. That's the first time you hear
him mention it. Then you hear him mention here, the Lord just
got through telling him where he was going and what he was
going to do. And then he'd come again and take him to where he
was. Thomas didn't understand that the next time he was there
in Paul. He said after they told him the Lord had risen from the
dead, he said, I will not believe unless I can stick my fingers
in the prints of the nails and stick my hand in that side where
he was ripped open with that spear. Three times he spoke,
and three times he showed just how faithless he was. How slow to understand he was. How quick he was to open his
mouth, but every time he did, something would come out of it
that was utterly and absolutely unbelieving, and natural, and
rational, and reasoning, without any faith involved in it at all.
And all this is too much. What our Lord said was too much
for old materialistic rational mind like Thomas. His mind's
on earthly things, on things of this earth. He can't get past
it. And he was not sure what our Lord Jesus Christ meant. And here's one thing he did do.
He did bring his lack of understanding to the Lord. He said, Lord, I
don't know, so you have to tell me. You have to teach me. You
have to show me. And look what our Lord replied
to Thomas. And our Lord and our Son unto
him said to Thomas, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Now, he made it plain. And what our Lord is telling
here is that there was a way that the times that man had fellowship
with God, a communion with God, had the truth of God, and had
the life of God, but all of it was lost. You know, our Lord
Jesus Christ here is going to do what, like Gary said in the
hymn, He's going to reverse the effects of Adam's fall. You know,
when Adam's relationship with God before the fall was threefold.
Just like our Lord is talking about here, our relationship
with God was threefold through Christ. First of all, he knew
the way to God. God came down and he communed
with God every day. He had access to the Father.
He had a way to the Father. And secondly, he had the truth
of God. God told him the truth that I
made. He had made you Lord over everything
in here. And there's one thing that you
don't do. And Adam knew that truth. He knew God and he knew
God in truth. And then he possessed the very
life of God. God breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life, and he became a living soul. And so he had
the way, he had the truth, and he had the life. But he lost
every bit of it. He lost the way, he lost the
truth, and he lost his life. And we all lost the way, the
truth, and the life in our father Adam. Huh? He took the devil's lie and he
lost the way. Would God come down to cool the
day? Did Adam go to commune with God? No, he wouldn't. He lost
the way. He didn't know the way back.
He couldn't come back. He didn't want to come back.
He covered himself in fig leaves and he took the lie of the devil
and rejected the truth of God. And he lost that truth. And he lost the life where God
said, in the day that you eat of the fruit of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, that day you will die. You'll die. Lost it all. And you know why? Not one son of Adam still don't
know the way to God. Still don't know the truth and
still don't have the life unless Christ gives it to him. Now,
is that not right? Huh? And oh, and that which,
and that's what our Lord said, that which is born of the flesh
is flesh. You can't make any more out of it. You can't make
it prettier. You can't make it stronger. You
can't make it wiser. You can't make it smell any better.
You can't make it more acceptable to God. Huh? And, beloved, every
sinner has a threefold need. Everybody in this building today,
and everybody you'll ever talk to, has a threefold need. And I, Lord Jesus Christ, tells
us of those threefold needs. We need a way to God. Now, how
in the world are we going to get a way to God? I'll tell you,
Christ said, I'm the way. We've got to be reconciled to
God. You know, God never done wrong to us at all. We sinned
against Him. We reject His truth. We deny His power. We deny His
grace. We seek our own way. We seek
our own way of being coming to God. But we must be reconciled
to God. Our carnal mind is enmity against
God. Our flesh is against God. Our
flesh loves sin. Our flesh loves darkness. Our
flesh loves everything that's against God. We must be reconciled. We can't reconcile ourselves.
And you ever been in odds with anybody? I mean, really been
in odds with? And you say, how in the world
can I, how can I get this, how can I get this reconcile? How can I reconcile with him?
How can I get this bad feelings, this animosity, this malice,
this misunderstanding, how can I get it reconciled? Well, that's
what it is between us and God. God's hand, holy, lifting up. We are far off deadly trespassers
and sinners. Now, who's going to wreck us
out? Who's going to slay that enmity in our heart? Who's going
to appease the wrath of God and satisfy the justice of God, whereas
we've offended Him? Huh? And then we've got to not
only that, but we've got to have light, we've got to have truth,
we've got to have spiritual understanding, we've got to have illumination.
We don't know the truth. We know a lot of truths, but
we don't know the truth. We never know the truth about
God, the truth about sin, the truth about the scriptures, the
truth about Christ. And all my, all you've got to
do is just watch people and listen to people, listen to what they're
talking about, listen to what they're saying. And you'll find
out real quick that men don't have a clue about what's truth. And then we need life. We need
the very life of God. We're dead in trespasses and
sins. And all these needs, all these needs, these three needs
are met in the Lord Jesus Christ. He said He's the way. He said He's the truth. The law
was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Christ. Huh? He's the way. No man comes to the Father but
by me. He is life, life to those who
believe him. I was watching a preacher, preaching
in, I believe it's Portland, Oregon, the other day. He was
preaching outside on the street. outside this donut shop called
Voodoo Donut Shop. And I mean, there's a long, long
crowd there, long lines of people waiting to get in there to eat
donuts. And he's standing there preaching.
And this girl started hollering back to him, started talking
to him and telling him, said, you know, I'm a Christian. I
don't need you to stand here telling me. He said, well, good.
I'm glad you're a Christian. She says, but you know, you're
not to say Jesus is not the only way. You don't believe he's all
the way, do you? He said, well, how in the world could you be
a Christian if Christ is not the only way? And I mean, folks were
listening. One person, I said, go get that
policeman down there and stop this fool. But that woman started
arguing with him. He said, there's more than one
way. He said this, and I mean, he told her and everybody there.
He said, there's only one way. For you to get to God, one way
for your sins to be forgiven, one way for you to ever approach
God, and God to approach you, and that's through Jesus Christ.
I don't care what anybody tells you, Buddha, Confucius, the Catholic
Pope, or nobody. He stood up there and told everyone
of them, said there's only one way you can get to God, and that's
through Jesus Christ. Sure enough, here comes that
policeman riding up there. He said, don't be arguing with
these people. I'm not arguing with them. I'm telling the truth.
They're arguing with me. But he did. Whatever else he
said, he did tell that woman and everybody there. He says,
no, no. The only way you can ever be
a believer, be a Christian, and that's Christ. He's the only
way. There's no other way. And that's what our Lord said.
There's no other way. No matter what anybody says, if it's not
this little baby Jesus, talking about. Now, look what our Lord
Jesus Christ said here. Oh, Lord, we don't know where
You're going, how can we know the way? Well, our Lord said,
I'm going to tell you the way. I'm going to make it as plain
as I possibly can for you. I am the way. I'm the way of
reconciliation to God. He made peace through the blood
of His cross to reconcile all things undoing sin. Oh, beloved,
our Lord Jesus Christ, He reconciled. Amen, beloved. We were at enmity
with God, and Christ came here and slew that enmity. And now
we understand that if we are going to have peace with God,
if we're going to have God not angry with us and against us,
the only place we can go where God will accept us is through
Christ. And not only is He the reconciliation,
but He's the satisfaction. He's the satisfaction, not as
our Lord said, that he shall see of the travail of his soul
and be satisfied. Satisfied with his life. Satisfied
with his obedience. Satisfied with his sacrifice.
Satisfied with his sin offering. Satisfied with what he did to
fulfill the law. Satisfied with Christ one billion
times, a hundred thousand times per cent. Satisfied with who
Christ is and what he did. And then, beloved, He's the way
of redemption. He entered in once into the holy
place and obtained eternal redemption for us. He appeared once in the
end of the world to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And what it is, beloved, you
remember when Lazarus said, when he was in hell, he told a rich
man, he said, the rich man told Abraham, said, Abraham, would
you send Lazarus here? That old poor beggar sat at my
gate. Would you send him here with just a little drop of water
on his finger to cool my parched tongue? And Abraham said, I can't
send him. There's a great gulf between
you and us. Well, there's a great gulf between
God and man. A ghost that cannot be spanned
by flesh and blood. A ghost that cannot be spanned
by any obedience in anything a man ever done. The Lord Jesus
Christ, He wretched up and got a hold of God Almighty's holy
hand and wretched down here and became a man and got a hold of
human nature and brought them both together in the person of
His blessed Son and bore our sins in His own body on that
tree. and spanned that great gulf.
These are days, men, between us and God. And, oh, beloved, not only is
He the way of reconciliation and satisfaction and redemption,
but He's the truth. Now, what does this mean? This
means that He is the full and final revelation of God. Nothing
else is going to be revealed. Nothing else is going to be made
known in this world about God. When Adam believed the devil's
lie, men have been in darkness and loved their darkness. They've
been in ignorance and they've been in error ever since. Unless
Christ comes and He's the truth. You want the truth? Christ came
and revealed the truth. I'll tell you what He did. He
revealed the truth of God and exposed man. And that's what
happens. The truth of God exposes man. When you hear the truth, and
I'm telling you this, I'm telling you with my heart and soul and
as honest as I can possibly be, that the minute you hear the
truth, somebody tells you the truth. And I bless God that somebody
crossed my path with the truth. was honest with me, was honest
with the Scripture, was honest about Christ. Bless God. But
if you ever hear the truth, and you sit and hear the truth, immediately
you're exposed for being what you are. You can't have the truth
revealed to you and made known to you without making known what
you are. You're saying, if you don't believe
the truth and don't receive the truth and embrace the truth,
which is Christ, you're saying, I love my darkness. I love my
ignorance. I love my flesh. I love my sin. I love my error. Ain't that right? Ain't that what you're saying? So you see, that's what Christ
did. He came to reveal God, to reveal
the truth. They come to him and they said,
this fellow over here, he said, I don't need nobody to tell me
about me. You don't need to tell me a thing in the world about
me. For I know man. I know him. I know his thoughts,
I know his hearts, I know his intents, I know his hypocrisies,
I know his ignorance, I know his darkness, I know the depth
of the depravity of his heart, I know every sin he's committed,
I know every vile thought whizzed through his mind, I know the
darkness he's dwelling in, I know the death and corruption his
body and soul is in. I said, I know him. And that
very truth right there. Except I throw up for him since
the Lord knows me. I just as well come to him and
come clean. I'm going to come clean. I'm
nothing. I'm nobody. I'm nothing but darkness and
death and depravity and corruption. There's nothing good about me.
Oh God, you show me the truth about myself. That's why our
Lord said, he that walks in the darkness, in the night, he stumbles. He stumbles. Look what our Lord
said over here in John 18.37. Look at John 18.37. Here, look what our Lord said.
He's standing before Pilate. And Pilate asked him, says, therefore
said unto him, Art thou a king, Ben? And our Lord answers and says,
Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for
this cause came I into the world. Now watch it. This is the reason
He came, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that
is of the truth, here is my Lord. Well, I'm listening. And I'll tell you something,
beloved, truth isn't found in a system of philosophy or even
in religion. Truth is found in the person.
If you get a person, you get everything there is about him.
You get all the truth there is about him. You see, Christ is
the truth in him. dwells all the wisdom and treasures
of knowledge. So you see, truth, we want truth.
Old Brother Barner said one time, he said, I'm going to find somebody
to tell me the truth. I'm going to search this world
over, and when I find somebody to tell me the truth, I'm going
to pitch camp right there. Right there. Right there. And he, beloved,
not only he said, I'm the way, and I'm the truth, but he says,
I'm the life. And what does that mean? That
means, beloved, that He emancipates people from death. He is the
emancipator of death. They sent word to the Lord Jesus
about Lazarus. Said, He whom thou lovest is
sick. Our Lord waited four days before He even started an injury. When he got there, he knew Christ
was dead. He said, Lazarus was dead, he
knew this was for the glory of God. And he got there. Martha said, Oh Lord, if you'd
have been here, my brother hadn't have died. He said, Oh Martha,
he'll live again. Oh, I know he will. I know he
will. At the resurrection and the last day. And our Lord Jesus
Christ says, Martha, Martha, I'm alive in the resurrection.
He's dead, but really he's alive. He has me. He has me. And to prove it to you that he
has life, and his life is in me, and that I give it to you? Oh, no, no, no, don't do that. It stinks. It stinks. There ain't
a soul in this building outside of Christ that don't stink. It
stinks to themselves and everybody. Oh, corruption. And our Lord
said, roll it away. Lazarus, my sheep hear my voice. I know them. And I give, I give
unto them eternal life. Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead, came forth. And that's what Christ does,
beloved. He gives us life. Just by speaking to us. Live,
yea, I say unto thee, live. And oh my soul, may he say that
to you today, live. May you hear his voice today
say, live, I say unto thee, live. I see your fruit in your blood,
live. I see your death, I say live.
I see your sin, I say live. I see your impotence, live. And he's the one, he's the only
one who can do that. I tell you, and I tell you, and I tell you,
outside of Christ is dead. No life of God, no love for God,
dead to heavenly things, people's limbs, but they have no spiritual
life. It's like that prodigal son,
when he came home, Father said, prepare a great feast. Why? Because
this my son was dead, and now he's alive. Now, you remember when you got
life, this is the most mysterious thing in the world when Christ
gives you life. Christ gives you life. It's the most mysterious
thing in the world. You see things, hear things,
know things, feel things, experience things you never ever know, seen,
heard, felt, or experienced in your life. It's like you get
a new Bible, you get new ears, you get new eyes, You start believing
things that it's not natural to believe. Somebody say, boy,
you're a fine fellow. Oh, no, you don't have a clue
what I'm like. If you knew who I was, you'd never have me in
your house. I'd never eat a meal with you. Because you know you
just don't have a clue how awful I am. And once you ever feel
your need of Christ, you'll just feel your need more intense and
more intense and more intense the older you get. And oh, see, Christ is the way.
Without Him, we're like Cain. We're wanderers. We're vagabonds. And our Lord Jesus Christ is
not a guide to the Father, but He's the only way to the Father. Now, you ain't going to get there
except through Him. And He's the truth. Without Him,
we believe the Father of life. Christ is not merely a teacher
to reveal a doctrine about God. He himself is the truth of God
made benefitted in this world. Christ is the life without Him,
dead in trespasses and sins. And I'll tell you this, beloved,
He didn't come to repair our old nature, but to give us the
life of God itself. Christ in you is the hope of
the world. I give unto my sheep everlasting
life, when Christ our life shall appear. You see, He don't take
our old nature and make it better. He gives us a brand new nature.
He gives us a brand new heart. He gives us a brand new... He
gives us... We become new creatures. We become
new people. We didn't exist before until
Christ gave us the life of God in our soul. And that's what
He goes on to say here in verse 7. And that's what he says there,
and excuse me, it'll last to verse six. And no man, no man
cometh unto the Father but by me. That means you Simon Peel,
that means you Thomas, that means you Phillip, that means me, that
means you, it means everybody. Nobody's going to come to the
Father but by me. And then he goes on to say, if
you had known me, you should have known my father also. Here's
their problem. Here's all of our problems. They
found all he had said so hard to understand. And all he had
said up to this point. And I'll tell you why. Because
they didn't have correct views of the Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He says, what he's saying here, if you had correct views
of me, and understood me, and understood what I said about
myself, and my relationship with the Father, and would have watched
me, you would have known. You would have known my Father
too. You would have known Him also.
You see, the true knowledge of the Father can't not be known
but by the true knowledge of the Son. You can't know the Father
unless you have the knowledge of the Son. And if you have the
knowledge of the Son, then you have the true knowledge of the
Father. If you've got the wrong view of Christ, you'll have the
wrong view of God. Now, ain't that right? If you
have the wrong view of who Jesus Christ is, then you'll have the
wrong view of God, and you'll try to approach Him the wrong
way. You see what our Lord said? Me and the Father's one and the
same. Christ is more than a manifestation of God. He Himself was God manifest
in the flesh. Look over here in Matthew 11
with me just a moment. Matthew 11. Verse 27. This is what I'm talking about. He said, all things are delivered
unto me of my Father. What does he mean by that? Well,
he meant the way, the way of the Father. The truth, all truth
is delivered unto me of my Father. Life is delivered unto me of
my Father. All men are delivered unto me. Everything is delivered
unto me. And watch this, no man knows
the Son but the Father. I don't know the Son, only the
Father knows Him. neither knows any man the Father,
save the Son." Now watch this, "'And he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal it.'" Oh, if you know Christ and He makes Himself
known to you, He'll make the Father known to you. And look
while He goes on back over here in our text with us. Look at
this. Excuse me. He said, if you have known me,
you should have known my father also. And from henceforth, from
henceforth, you know him and have seen him. From henceforth,
what our Lord said here is, is that this is a prediction. From
henceforth, from here on, from now, in a little while, you should
know him. You'll know him so clearly that
it will be said that you see. You will say, from henceforth,
you'll know him and say, I've seen the Father. And what does
he mean here? This was fulfilled on the day
of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came down and filled that place
with the Holy Ghost, and those men began to preach. Then they
knew that Jesus Christ was who He said He was, and that now
they seen the Father in all of His glory and all of His majesty.
And the Holy Spirit gave them a clear view of God the Father,
and our Lord, and His relationship, and the believers' relationship
with Him. And then they went on to say here, they still didn't
get it. Philip said unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and
it will satisfy us. Oh, he just heard him talking
to Thomas. show us the Father. Our Lord
just spoken to Thomas, yet Philip was still unable to grasp it.
And our minds, I don't know if you're like I am or not, but
our minds will pass over so much and fixate, fixate on what we
in our minds thinks is relevant. We'll pass by everything and
fixate on one thing, the thing that we think is relevant. Well,
that's what Philip did here. He fixated on seeing the Father.
Show us the Father. Let us see the Father. And he
could only think of that one thing, seeing the Father. Not
how he could see the Father. Not how God is supposed to be
seen. Maybe he remembered that God
took Moses and hid him in the cleft of the rock and put his
hand over him. But he had fixated on this thing. Let us see the
Savior. You know we're going to see the
Father. Let's see Him. Show Him to us. Show Him to us. We've got to see Him. But our Lord's answer, look what
He says to us. Oh, have I been so long time
with you. I've been these three years with
you. Preaching to you. Telling you
that I've got to go to Jerusalem. I've got to be delivered into
the hands of sinful men. I've got to be crucified. I've
got an hour that I'm coming to. I've got a work that my father
gave me to do. Remember me telling you that
at the well when you came to bring me food? How I told you
I must be about my father's business? How many times have I told you
that I had an hour? How many works have you seen
me do? Have I been so long time with you and yet, and yet, Has
thou not known me, Philip? This is a rebuke. What an awful
rebuke. Has thou not known me? After all these years and all
these... You're the one that went and
told Nathanael about me. And then when Nathanael said,
Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? And our Lord said,
Before Philip called you, I saw you sitting under that fig tree.
He said, I mean to tell me that I've been so long with you and
you've not seen me, Philip? Oh, never apprehended who I am? He
was the glory of the only begotten of the Father, the brightness
of his glory. In him dwell all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. And look what he said, he that
hath seen me hath seen the Father. And then you ask me, how, sir?
Then show us then, just let us see the Father. Show it to us,
let us see. Oh, and then he says in verse 10,
Believest thou not that I am in the Father? The words, he
says, the words, the words that I speak. You see, his words was
the perfect revelation of God. The Father works in me. The words
that I speak, they're coming from God. They're straight from
heaven. When I speak, it's God speaking. When I say something, God's saying
something. When I do something, God's doing
something. My father's doing something.
When I'm talking, my father's talking. When I'm doing something, my
father's doing something. That's what he's saying. Oh, I don't spell the words when
I speak. They don't come from me. My father
sent me here with something to say, and I'm saying just exactly
what he told me to say. Oh, beloved, and then he goes
on to say here, believe me for the words that I say. That's
what he's saying. Believe me for the words that I'm telling
you. If my words, if you won't believe me for the bare truth,
for my bare words, If you won't believe me on my
bare words, the words that I speak, believe that I am in the Father,
verse 11, and the Father in me. And if you don't believe the
words that I'm telling you, and don't believe I'm my father born,
believe me for the works sake. Look at all the works. If you
don't believe the words, look at the works. Look at the works
I've done. You ever seen anybody else open
eyes of a blind man? Seen anybody else raise a dead
man? Seen anybody else feed 5,000 people with two fish and five
loaves of bread? Seen anybody else walk on the
water? Seen anybody else calm a storm? Seen anybody else cleanse lepers? Thank God for the Holy Spirit
who reveals Christ to us, and we come to Him right now. We
come to the Father through and by Him. We have the very life
of God in our souls because of Christ, and He's taught us the
truth. We know that the Son of God has
come. and hath given us an understanding,
that we may know Him that is true. And this is the true God,
even Jesus Christ. Amen.