Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. If you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm going to be preaching from John chapter
14 and a little bit in John chapter 13 at the end of that chapter.
And the title of the message is, The Way, the Truth, and the
Life. And that title comes from John
14 in verse six, where Jesus told his disciples, he said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father, but by me. Well, I wanna go back to John
chapter 13 to lead up to the statement that he made there.
And of course, that is such a full statement. that tells us that
the Lord Jesus Christ is everything in the salvation of His people.
He's the way, the way of salvation, the way to God, the way of righteousness. We sing a hymn, the way of the
cross leads home. That's how he got, that's how
he came to be glorified in his capacity as God and human flesh,
mediator. And he is the truth. He is the
embodiment of truth. Everything that we know about
God, savingly is revealed in the person and work of Christ.
And then he is the life, the life of his people. He's the
life giver, the life sustainer, and he's the tree of life. So
what a statement that Christ is all, and in all the Bible
says. Well, back up in John 13, as
I preached last week concerning the Son of Man glorified, this
is the time when he, in the upper room, when he brought Judas out
of the closet, basically as the betrayer, and sent him away to
do what he had to do. And as I said last week, the
wheels of God's providence began rolling right here. And I'll
just read verse 31 of John 13. I preached on these last week.
It says, therefore when he was gone out, when Judas was gone
out, Jesus said, now is the son of man glorified and God is glorified
in him. His glory as the redeemer. He's
the surety of his people. The sins of his people were charged,
accounted, imputed to him when he was made surety in the everlasting
covenant of grace before the world began. And then he's the
substitute of his people. He came to this earth and took
into union with his deity, himself, a perfect sinless humanity created
in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit. And he became
God-man. and that's what he had to do
to be the proper substitute to take the place of his people
under the law. The bible says that in the fullness,
this is Galatians chapter 4 and verse 4, in the fullness of the
time God sent forth his son made under the law and that means
he became subject to his own law because the whole salvation
His people, His sheep, God's elect was conditioned on Him
and He had to keep the law unto death. So He was made under the
law, He was made of a woman made under the law to redeem them
that were under the law that they might receive the adoption
of sons. So Christ in His glory His ministers point to Him and
He brings us to the Father on the basis or the ground of His
blood, His righteousness imputed to His people and that's how
salvation brings about the glory of God as both a just God and
a Savior. And so He says in verse 32, if
God be glorified in him God shall also glorify him in himself and
shall straightway glorify him. That's speaking of Christ as
the mediator. You see, in his nature as God,
he's always glorified. But as God-man who finished the
work of salvation, righteousness and redemption, he was raised
from the dead. and he ascended on high under
the Father, and he's now sat down, seated at the right hand
of the Father. ever living to make intercession
for his people. So that he's my advocate, he's
my intercessor, he's my mediator and that's his glorification
that he's speaking of here. So he says in verse 33, little
children yet a little while I am with you you shall seek me and
as I said unto the Jews whether I go you cannot come so now I
say to you. So he's telling his disciples
the 11 that are left there He's saying, I'm going somewhere where
you can't go. Because you see, Christ is the
representative, and as I always say, the surety, substitute,
and redeemer of His people. And He did that work alone. He by Himself, Hebrews 1 tells
us, purged our sins, the sins of His sheep. He didn't have
any help from me or you or from the disciples. And as I mentioned
last week, they all fled, Peter denied him. He did it by himself. He's the only one who could do
this great work. And as per our text in John 14,
six, he said, I am the way, not you. It's not me and you are
the way. He said, I am the way. Christ
is the way. Christ by himself is the way. Christ by himself is the truth. Christ by Himself is the life,
the life of His people. You see that? And so He says,
whether I go, you cannot come, so now I send you. Then He says
in verse 34, a new commandment I give unto you, that you love
one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
Now, what He's telling them, this is a new command. You know,
the law, was always summarized as love God perfectly and love
your neighbors yourself. But this new commandment is in
the gospel context that brings God's people as sinners saved
by grace, the fellowship of faith into the close fellowship of
truth and love that binds them together. And that's a new commandment. because that's not just the general
love that we're to show to everybody. This is a special love. This is that agape love that
binds believers together against the world. It's like your family. Think about your earthly family.
Now you can say you try to love everybody and you should try
to love everybody, even your enemies. But there's a special
love bond between husbands and wives and children, family members. You see what I'm saying? And
that's what this is. This is a spiritual familial
love that binds believers together in the faith. And that's why
it's a new commandment. So he says in verse 35, and I
want you to take note of this verse. He says, by this, that
is this love, shall all men know that you are my disciples if
you have love one to another. Now I want you to look at a verse
over in the book of 1 John, 1 John chapter three. Now, notice again what he said
in John 13, 35. By this, this love, loving one
another, shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have
love one to another. Well, let me read you this verse
over in 1 John 3, verse one. Now listen to this. Behold, what
manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should
be called the sons of God. Therefore, now notice this, therefore
the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Now, does that sound like a contradiction
to you? Over here he says, by this shall
all know that you're my disciples, if you have love one to another.
And then over here he says, therefore the world knoweth us not because
it knew him not, it didn't know Christ. How do you jibe these
two? Well, think about it. When he
says by this shall all men know that you're my disciples if you
love one another, he's not saying that by this the world will know
that you're a true Christian. That's not what he's saying.
What he's saying in John 13, 35 is, by this love that binds
you together in the truth and in the faith, will show all people
that you're a follower of this man, Jesus of Nazareth. And what
he says, you'll say. You're a disciple of him. Well,
remember what he said to the Pharisees. He said, you're hypocrites. He said, you appear outwardly
righteous unto men, but inside you're dead. Well, his disciples
who are bound together by their love for him and love for one
another, they'll say the same thing. And it'll be just like
the Sanhedrin, the court of the Jews, when they brought Peter
and James and John up on charges, they said, you've been with this
Jesus of Nazareth. That's what he's talking about
in John 13 35. They didn't look at Peter and
James and John and say, well, you guys are children of God. And we see how much you love
us. No, that's not what they were
saying. They hated Christ and they hated his disciples. And
that's what John is saying over in 1 John 3, one, they won't
know you because they didn't know Christ. And I've heard people
say, well, people need to recognize our love before they'll hear
our truth. My friend, the world, unbelieving world, does not know
to recognize that love which is of God, that new commandment. And they'll actually sometimes
see it as hate, as being mean and harsh. John chapter three,
this is the light that men love darkness and hate the light.
This is the condemnation that men love darkness and hate the
light. And so what the Sanhedrin was
saying to Peter and James and John basically is we hate Jesus
and we hate you too. And we recognize that you're
together with Jesus. And I don't know if that's made
clear to you, but you think about what I'm saying. to stand together
in the truth of the gospel, which exposes the world as being lost
and idolatrous. That's the recognition that he's
talking about here in John 13, 35. They'll recognize you've
been with this man, Jesus, who says the same thing. He says,
we're lost. If I tell you that, if I am talking to you and I
find out that you believe salvation by works, and I say, well, you're
lost. And somebody else, a brother
in Christ, my brother, comes up and says, well, I agree with
him, you're lost. You're gonna recognize that he
and I are together, that we're followers of the same Jesus who
would tell you you're lost too. So he says in verse 36, look
at John 13, 36. Simon Peter said unto him, Lord,
whither thou goest? Now remember he told him, he
said, where I'm going, you can't go. Peter says, where are you
going? Jesus answered him, whither I go, thou canst not follow me
now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards. Now historical tradition
says that Peter was crucified too. Most say he was crucified
upside down. I'm not sure about all that,
but it could have been true, and that's okay. But Christ is
going to die. And he's telling Peter, he says,
well, where I'm going, you can't follow me, I'm going to die.
His death was a success and a redemption for his people. But Peter's going
to die too. All of them were going to die.
In verse 37, Peter said to him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee
now? I will lay down my life for thy
sake. And listen to what he tells Peter.
Verse 38, Jesus answered him, wilt thou lay down thy life for
my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
the cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice, three
times. Peter had every good intention.
Peter's just like all of us. If we're saved, sinners saved
by grace, and sometimes our tongues get ahead of our brains. And
he spoke up loudly. He said, I'll die for you. Well,
when the time came, he didn't. He denied Christ. He didn't lose
his salvation, though, because he was a sinner saved by grace.
And the Bible says, after he denied Christ three times, he
wept bitterly with tears. How many times have we who are
saved, in some way, if not by what we say, but by our silence,
have denied Him? Only a sinner saved by grace.
That's my story. We'll go on to chapter 14 now.
After telling Peter what he told him, he knew that Peter would
be troubled, and some of the other disciples too. So he says,
let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. You have that assurance, see,
that in believing in Christ, trusting Him for all salvation,
all righteousness. I have no righteousness but that
which is in Christ. He is the Lord my righteousness.
Believing in Him for all life, you believe in God. And in my
Father's house, he says in verse two, are many mansions. If it
were not so, I would have told you. And look at what he says,
I go to prepare a place for you. Christ is the one who makes preparation
for his people in glory in the new earth, the new heavens. We
don't make preparation for that. We do prepare in the sense of
believing in Christ, but he's the builder of the mansion. And I know people go to verses
like this and say, well, there's going to be mansions in heaven,
then there's going to be little huts. And if you do a lot of
works, you'll get a mansion. If you don't do a lot of works,
you'll get the hut or the cabin or whatever. That's crazy. That's just man's way of trying
to interject his own works into the scheme of grace. And it's
a denial of grace. If righteousness come by law,
Christ is dead in vain. By grace are you saved, not by
works. We're His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. And he says in verse three, and
if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, that's
his second coming, and receive you unto myself, that where I
am, there you may be also. And that applies to all of his
people, all for whom he died, all whom the Father gave to him
before the foundation of the world. Do you remember that?
John 6, 37, he said, all that the Father give to me cometh
to me, and I will in no wise cast him out. He said, this is
the will of him that sent me, that of all which he hath given
me, I should lose nothing. but raise it up again at the
last day. Over here in John 17, this beautiful
prayer that the Lord prayed on behalf of His disciples, His
people, His sheep, His elect. Listen to what He says in John
17, 1. These words spoke Jesus and lifted up His eyes to heaven.
And He said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify Thy Son, that
Thy Son also may glorify Thee. Speaking of his death on the
cross, his burial, his resurrection, and look at verse two. As thou
hast given him power over all flesh, nothing excepted, that
he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. Not one sinner for whom Christ
died on that cross will perish. There'll be plenty of room in
heaven, but there'll be no vacancies. And he says, this is life eternal,
verse three, that they might know thee the only true God,
and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. And what's it based on?
Well, look at verse four. He says, I have glorified thee
on the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. And this was determined before
the world began. Look at verse five of John 17.
And now, O Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self, with
the glory which I had with Thee before the world was. And who is going to be brought
into this truth and this fellowship? Look at verse six. I have manifested
Thy name unto the men which Thou gavest me out of the world. Thine
they were, and Thou gavest them me, and they have kept Thy word.
Sinners saved by grace. Now go back to John 14. He says in verse four, and whither
I go you know, and the way you know. Well, Thomas, verse five,
one of his disciples, saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither
thou goest. How can we know the way? And
this is when it comes. Verse six. Well, Jesus said unto
him, I am the way. I am the truth and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Now he had spoken
to his disciples many times about these issues of salvation. But
just like weak, pitiful human beings that we are, these disciples,
they were weak and pitiful and human. And these things had to
be told over and over and over again to them. You see, the disciples,
The apostles, the prophets, all the patriarchs, they were not
superhuman moralists. The Bible records many of them
doing great things, but it wasn't by their own power or their own
goodness. And the Bible also records all
of their faults. Listen to what he says to Philip
here. He says, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Verse seven, if you
had known me, you should have known my Father also. And from
henceforth you know him and have seen him. Christ is the revelation
of the Father. He's the revelation of the Spirit
and the Son, who he is. You see that? The Bible says
in Colossians 2, 9, that in Him bodily dwells, in Him dwells
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. The fullness of the Father,
the Son, and the Spirit. The Bible says that when the
Spirit reveals Christ to us and the assurance of the promises
of the gospel of salvation by grace, that is when we are made
partakers of the divine nature. partakers, meaning fellowship,
the divine nature, meaning God the Father, God the Son, and
God the Holy Spirit. So it's through the revelation
of the Spirit who shows us the assurance of the promises of
salvation, which are in Christ, that we're brought spiritually
into the fellowship of the Godhead. So what he says here, you know,
he said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Well, look at
verse eight of John 14. Philip saith unto him, Lord,
show us the Father, and that's suffice it. Well, he'd shown
them before. But look at verse nine. Jesus
said unto him, have I been so long time with you, and yet hast
thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father. And how sayest thou then, show
us the Father? Verse 10, believest thou not
that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, that Christ
the Son and the Father are one in purpose and nature? The words
that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself, but the Father
that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Now Christ is not
some kind of a lesser God, God the Father, God the Son, God
the Spirit, co-equal in every attribute. But what he's saying
is he and the Father and the Spirit are one and the same in
that message. Back over here when he talks
about his submission to the Father, that was for the purpose of the
salvation of his people. And so when he says back here,
I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life, He's speaking
honestly, purposefully, the way to God, the truth of God, the
life of God. And he says in verse 11, believe
me that I am in the Father and the Father in me, or else believe
me for the very work's sake. Now that sounds like he's saying,
well, if you can't believe my word, just look at what I've
done. And in essence, there's some element of truth to that,
but what he had done supports his word. So that you can't believe
in just say, well, Jesus died for our sins, he was buried and
he arose again and not believe his word. If he is the way, the
truth and the life, his word is true, his word is worth believing. So he says, believe me for the
very work's sake, verse 12. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also,
and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto
my father. Now, he's not talking about that
his people are going to do a work of redemption. But what he's
talking about is the gospel message going out. And what he's talking
about in the greater works is that gospel message after his
death, burial, and resurrection and his ascension unto the Father,
that gospel work is gonna go all out over the Gentile world.
That's the greater work he's speaking of. Now, when it comes
to salvation, there's no greater work than the death, burial,
and resurrection of Christ. Nothing can supersede that nothing
can go beyond that that is the fullness of salvation That's
the finishing the making an end of sin and finishing but the
gospel going out is a greater work in number in magnitude It's
not going to be confined to the Jewish people. It's going to
go out to the Gentiles and And many will believe. Many will
see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And that's what
he says. Whatsoever you shall do in my
name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the
Son. And if you shall ask anything in my name, I'll do it. Talking
about salvation there. All right. I hope you'll join
us next week for another message from God's word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
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Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
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today and may the Lord be with you.